Tavis Smiley thinks President Obama is on the right track if he raises the minimum wage for federal contractors and follows through on other proposals from the State of the Union address.

But Smiley, host of talk shows on PBS and National Public Radio, doesn't think the proposals go far enough.

Obama's proposals go toward decreasing income inequality among classes, but Smiley thinks a new war on poverty is necessary for the United States to stay strong both ethically and economically.

Smiley will be at Rochester Institute of Technology on Thursday for the college's Expressions of King's Legacy Celebration. Smiley, co-author of a book exploring poverty in the United States, is currently writing a book about Martin Luther King Jr.'s last year. Death of a King is set to be released later this year.

King, in his final years, started believing that civil rights could not be achieved without eradicating poverty. King also started speaking out against the Vietnam War.

Many Americans turned against him at that point. However, King's message still rings true, Smiley said. "He was tired of people who didn't understand that sins will be committed in the darkness. He said, 'I'm tired of cursing the sinners instead of the darkness,'" Smiley said. "Fifty years later, we have the same problem. We're condemning the poor, condemning those on food stamps, marginalizing the poor, and in the process we render the poor voiceless."

Last week, Oxfam released a global poverty report that found the world's 85 wealthiest people have more money than the poorest 3.5 billion, half the world's population. In the United States, the report found, the 400 wealthiest people have more money than the bottom 50 million.

"This is not hating on the rich folks. It's about saying our democracy is in trouble because this divide does not allow for a sustainable economy," Smiley said.

History has shown that economic unrest, if unchecked, then leads to instability, Smiley said. Cities like Rochester have work to do, he said, citing a Rochester Area Community Foundation study released in December that ranked the city fifth in the United States in terms of poverty.

Smiley said Rochester must fight to decrease poverty, and that means continuing race discussions that have been reinvigorated in the past year.

Smiley, besides giving a keynote address in RIT's Gordon Field House at noon, will mediate a 6 p.m. panel discussion on the 50th anniversary of the race riots in Rochester at East High School, 1801 E. Main St.

Smiley said he looks forward to hearing more about the community's journey over the past 50 years and efforts today to continue the fight for racial equality."They will provide the content. I will provide the context," Smiley said. Smiley He believes that this is the year to make progress on increasing the standard of living because it's the 50th anniversary of the passage of Lyndon B. Johnson's Economic Opportunity Act legislation, more commonly referred to known as the War on Poverty legislation.

He believes that Obama should call a White House summit on the topic.

The book Smiley co-wrote with Cornel West, The Rich & the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto, outlines several ways poverty should be addressed.

Perhaps the most important, he said, is a focus of programs on women and children. It has been proven that poverty rates fall faster when women are given a hand.

The second is creating jobs that have a living wage. The nation also must change the "incarceration culture," rethinking punishments for petty drug crimes. The cost of maintaining prisons is too high — and so is the societal cost for poverty-stricken areas, he said.

CATHYR@DemocratandChronicle.com

If you go

The public is invited to attend two local events Thursday spotlighting race relations in Rochester, both featuring Tavis Smiley.

WHAT: Panel discussion – The State of Race in Rochester: 50 years after the '64 riots.

WHEN: 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 30. Doors open at 4 p.m.

WHERE: East High School, 1801 East Main St.

REGISTRATION: Seating is limited. To attend you must register in advance at rit.edu/diversity/registration-expressions-king

Coming Sunday

Fifty years after the riots, Rochester is no longer divided so clearly along the line between black and white. Sunday, online and in print, Unite Rochester kicks off for 2014 with a look at how far we have come — and how far we have to go — in the five decades since the unrest.